This can't really be happening. After seeing the demon float there, he realized that it wasn't a dream, and that he really did have a chance of dying now. He prayed to god that this demon didn't set him up with life or death tasks or he was never going to get out of this.
"What is it now, Dipper?" Dipper looked to his sister then to the demon who was now waving at Mabel.
"You don't see him?" he motioned to Bill. Mabel looked to where he was motioning, squinting her eyes, but not seeing anything.
"I think you need more sleep."
He huffed in despair and frustration. How could she not see this bright gold man floating in their room? "But he's right there!" He motioned more vigorously, only getting an annoyed look from his sister.
"Give it up kid, she can't see me." Bill floated across the room to where Mabel was sitting.
"I can see that." Dipper mumbled under his breath as he watched the demon loom over her to glance at the page she was reading.
"Oh my. Isn't she a little young for this" He spoke, reading the lines through with a small smile, "At least she has nice taste."
"Get away from my sister." Dipper huffed, getting a strange look from Mabel. Bill raised his hands up in defense.
"Relax kid, I can't do anything to her." He explained, holding a hand out, which phased right through her. She shivered a little, but that was all. "See?"
"Ha, you're like a ghost here. How lame, and you spoke so highly of yourself before." Dipper smiled when he got a glare from the demon. He watched Bill move away from her.
"I wouldn't call myself a ghost, more like a poltergeist." He flicked his finger, sending Mabel's book across the room.
Mabel let out a noise of distress as her book was ripped from her hands, hitting the wall a few feet away. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him, "Dipper! Why'd you do that?" he looked back and forth between Mabel and Bill, who was now laughing. He couldn't believe his ears, she was actually blaming him for that.
"Mabel, are you kidding me? You really think I could do that!?" He threw a hand in the direction of the book.
"Well who else could've done it?"
"Not me!" He threw his hand up, seeing that she probably wouldn't be convinced. Bill, being such a great guy, made the book fly up following Dipper's motions. Mabel gasped but then glared at Dipper for lying to her.
"Yeah, right, it wasn't you." She got up and went to the book that was now on the floor again, "Since I can't appreciate my book here, I'll be going downstairs."
When she left the room with her book, Bill floated back over to Dipper. He then sat in midair and crossed his legs.
"Now that she's gone, we can finally get to business." He stroked his chin in thought, probably thinking about which quest will torture him the most. Dipper stood up from the floor and brushed himself off. He was sure he could handle anything the demon threw at him, especially when he had that old journal at hand. The demon uncrossed his legs and put an arm lightly around the human, "I want a heart, a multibear's heart to be exact." He lifted up a finger and tapped him on the nose.
"Are you serious?!" Dipper's eyes widened. Was there even a multibear in gravity falls? Did multibears even exist? He didn't remember seeing anything like that in the journal.
"Hahaha! Serious as can be! Make sure it's still living when you cut out the heart so it'll still be beating. Then place it on my altar." Bill lifted up both hands, turning the room into a simulation of the forest. He floated over to a golden triangle that was in the middle of a small clearing. "Like this." A large heart appeared in his gloved hand, which he then forced down on the tip of the triangle. Blood squirted out and oozed down the sides as he smiled and looked at Dipper with simulation blood on his face.
"You're insane!" Dipper exclaimed, only getting laughter from the demon.
"Hardly." He snapped his fingers and the simulation faded away, leaving them back in his room, "Honestly I don't know what you expected. To go off and find me the prettiest flower?"
Dipper crossed his arms, "No, but I wish."
Bill reached over to and picked up the blue and white hat resting on the night stand. Studying the picture, he gave a small smile and placed it on Dipper's head, forcing down the front so it would cover his face.
"Hey!" Dipper pulled away and lifted up the front of his hat in frustration. Bill wasn't next to him anymore, but instead opening up the door.
"Come on pine tree, multibears are nocturnal after all." He floated out of the room and into the dark hallway.
Hurrying to the shelf and grabbing his journal, he chased after Bill. He caught up to him at the stairs , but then skidded to a halt. What was he going to say to his family? He was leaving for a night walk? Seemed legit enough.
After hopping down the stairs with the demon behind him, he peeked into the entry of the living room to see Stan sitting in the chair watching TV. Maybe he should just sneak out instead of bothering with his family. Tip-toeing to the door he slipped on his sneakers and reached for the door handle- where was Bill?
"Hey pine tree, watch this!" Bill called out from the living room. Dipper cursed to himself and peeked into the living room once more to see Bill hovering beside Stan. Dipper shook his head vigorously as the demon began to push a soda can from Stan's reach each time he tried to grab it.
"What the?" Stan scratched his head when he missed it for the fifth time. Looking at it, he reached for it again, but the soda can moved once again. He narrowed his eyes and then shot out an arm to snatch it, getting it in the process. Laughing in triumph he brought the soda to his mouth to take a few gulps. Bill wiggled his eyebrows at Dipper before hitting the bottom of the can, sending soda all over Stan's face and undershirt. Stan grumbled out a few unholy words as he removed his glasses to clean them with the cleanest part of his shirt.
Dipper covered his mouth to hold in the laughter and quickly left before he would be blamed for the impossible yet again. He closed the door behind him and hopped down the steps of the porch. Bill fazed through the door and floated to Dipper.
"Ah what a classic ghost move. You have to admit it was funny." Bill floated in front of him. Dipper stopped in his tracks and looked up at the demon.
"N-no, it was not funny. It was totally rude." Dipper averted his eyes, "You shouldn't mess with him, he'll probably hire a priest to get rid of you- actually, yeah, keep messing with him."
"Oh please, like a priest can get rid of something like me. I am the best there is."
"You know, you gloat and gloat yet you can't interact with the living. Without a vessel you are really just another force to be not reckoned with." He realized he said too much when the demon's eyes flashed red.
"Yeah I can't touch them if they aren't trying to hurt you, but you forget I can touch you!" Bill hissed out and shoved Dipper backwards. Dipper stumbled back and looked at the demon in confusion, "What? You thought I couldn't do anything to you either? Who do you think pulled you out of the way of that bus? How do you think you've stayed safe all these years? It was because of moi." The demon scoffed and turned his head away with a hand on his chest.
Dipper was speechless and looked at the offended demon who was now crossing his arms. Clicking his tongue, he gathered up a few words, "Okay, look-"
"Save it. I'm already mad and I don't want to hear your voice. Hurry up and go get killed by a multibear."
Dipper awkwardly rubbed his arm, wondering how he just became the bad guy in his gut and began to walk in the forest. Bill followed without saying a word or making a sound, making it an awkward silent walk. He stole a glance at Bill to see he had a soft yellow glow coming off of him. It was strange none the less, but Dipper thought it was kind of cool. The features on the demon's face had softened to the point where it looked like he was never mad or offended in the first place. He was now just looking around to his surroundings, probably searching for something interesting to mess with.
Looking down at the ground Dipper sighed, "Thanks."
"For what?" The demon replied a little too fast, probably happy to have something to do.
"You know, the whole saving me all the time thing. I probably would be dead by now if it weren't for you… even though you ar- might be the death of me and probably only protected me so you could have a perfect vessel, but either way it's the thought that counts and man, am I rambling on about this…" He looked up at the demon, seeing no expression on his face before looking away, "I'll stop talking now."
The more seconds went by in complete silence, the more awkward it got for Dipper. When he thought he would die of the awkwardness in the air, the demon finally replied.
"You're welcome." Dipper let out a breath of air he hadn't realized he was holding in. Feeling most of the tension go away he walked a little more relaxed and let the demon float up next to him.
"I think these tasks are gonna be easy if you are going to protect me the whole way." Dipper spoke, trying to get rid of the silence in the air.
"Oh, I'm not going to protect you on these tasks. You die and I'll take over your body." The demon replied bluntly.
"Wow, way to really boost my confidence." He swung his arm with a thumbs up. Dipper smiled when he got a small chuckle from the demon. "Guess I have to watch my back now. Without you protecting me, anyone could stab me in the back."
"I'm only not protecting you from anything that is related to your task. If a human lays a filthy hand on you, however, I'll slit their throat, tear them apart with my bare hands, and wear their organs as accessories before devouring their slimy soul." Bill hissed and glowed red for a moment before fading back to yellow, "So you don't have to worry, my baby pine tree. I don't let anyone lay a hand on something that's mine."
Dipper stared at him wide eyed, and soon noticed he had stopped walking at some point during that sentence. He adverted his eyes and walked a little faster. Tip for the future, don't try to have conversations with demons; especially this one.
Within a few moment, they soon reached a small clearing, where a golden triangle altar stood.
"Hey, look" Bill floated to the triangle and Dipper followed. Engraved on the sides were symbols he couldn't decipher and a single open eye. He crouched down to see if he could understand some of them, but they were too complicated to figure out.
"Doesn't it look just like me?" Bill flipped upside down and pointed at his face with a grin. Dipper looked from the triangle to Bill a few times.
"nooyess? I don't know. No?" Dipper shrugged.
"Ugh, close minded human. It looks exactly like me. Look harder!"
"Yes, it looks exactly like you." Dipper rolled his eyes and stood up straight. Bill flipped right-side up with a groan.
"Forget it." Bill waved him off and floated away further. Dipper followed but turned to take one more look at triangle. Where has he seen that before? Shrugging, he turned back around and hurried after the glowing demon.
"So if I were a mulitbear, where would I be living?" Dipper mused to himself.
"Under the sea?" The demon smiled and Dipper gave him a playful shove.
"You're no help." Dipper sighed looking around the dark forest, "Why are you even hanging around me? Don't you have other places to be, other lives to ruin?"
"Yes? But I find you more interesting. Most people nowadays just want money, sex, and drugs with your occasional murder. I'd rather watch you get mauled by a seven-headed bear." Bill grinned.
Dipper shook his head and soon came to a small mountain with a cave near the tip.
"I'm guessing the multibear is probably up there?"
"Probably. What are you gonna use to kill it." Bill asked, looking up. Dipper froze. Then did a face palm.
"I didn't bring anything" Dipper groaned and leaned against a tree.
"Ahahah! Stupid human. You gotta go all the way back and get something."
"Or you could summon up a weapon for me because you like me?" Dipper clasped his hands together with a smile. Bill narrowed his eyes but a butcher knife appeared in his hands.
"Trying to take advantage of me, aren't you?" Bill held out the knife.
"Of course not." Dipper reached for it but Bill pulled away. He raised an eyebrow at the demon, wondering what he was doing.
"Not so fast Pine tree. I want something in return."
"Right now?"
"Yes."
Dipper patted himself down, wondering what he could offer. He felt the journal and some stickers, but nothing else. He frowned knowing he had nothing to offer him and the demon was growing impatient, "I'm waiting~"
"Stickers?" Dipper offered and pulled some from his pocket. Mabel had a strange habit of putting stickers in his pockets saying it was for emergencies.
"No, I don't think that'll do." Bill waved off the offer. Dipper frowned and put them back in his pocket. He returned to his thoughts to think of something quick before the demon changed his mind. Remembering how close the demon likes to get, he thought maybe a hug? No, the demon would probably stab him in the back. Taking a deep breath, he decided to do an irrational thing that would probably be both shocking and hopefully successful. Taking a step forward he moved in swiftly close to the demon.
"Pine tree what are you-" The demon's words were cut off when soft lips were placed on the corner of his mouth. Dipper grabbed the knife from the stunned demon when he pulled away and got it surprisingly easy. Bill just floated there with a soft pink glow.
"Thanks for the knife." Dipper moved around him, leaving him there, and began going up the mountain. It took a moment but soon enough the demon was floating next to him once again with his normal yellow glow and a smile on his face that was larger than usual.